Current W&M freshman taking questions

<p>Thank you soccerguy and W&M Admissions! The help is much appreciated. To answer your question soccerguy, my schedule for next year as of now is AP Euro, AP Gov, AP Stats, AP Eng Lit, Latin IV (my school only offers AP Spanish/French), and Sociology & Anthropology. If I change my schedule to incorporate Honors Physics (which is what I would take as a science), it would replace Soc&Anthropology. </p>

<p>If it has any relevance… my schedule right now is AP Eng Lang, AP Psych, AP Bio, AP U.S. II, and Latin III. When I graduate (if my senior schedule goes as planned), I will have had 8 AP’s and 9-10 Honors (depending on if I take physics) classes.</p>

<p>physics would ehance the strength of your schedule more than soc/anthro. We’d advise taking physics over the soc/anthro course which is more of an elective than a core subject course</p>

<p>Hello,
I was wondering what are my chances?</p>

<p>I have currently a 3.5 gpa overall as a junior and i am ranked 39/330 in my class. My SAT score is 2000/2400. I am from Philadelphia, PA. I have taken only honors and ap classes. I have always taken the ap classes as soon as a i could for example i took ap computer science as a sophomore. This year i am in all ap’s or honors. The classes are: Physics, Chemistry, AP US History, AP STAT, AP Language and Composition and French IV. Next year, my senior year, i plan to take 6 ap’s which is the maximum number of classes that are allowed in one school year. My classes will be, AP Calc AB, AP Physics, AP Chemistry, AP Government and Politics, AP French V, AP Literature. At my school, you must take the honors, (aka ranked level one) class before you take the ap class. Also i have been heavily involved in history club. At the National History Day competition, i have placed first at regionals freshmen year and third at regionals sophomore year. I am now the president of History club and i have been involved in Model UN since freshmen year, i am also president of Model UN. I also am free lance web developer in my free time. So i was wondering what are my chances? Also thank you in advance.</p>

<p>Williamlin, you sound like you have some great qualities. Your course selection is tremendous. We’d encourage you to continue to work hard and maintain your grades/rank. Right now, you’re just outside the top 10% of your class but given the rigor of your courses, if you get good grades this year and your first-semester next year you should be able to breach the top 10% which is always helpful.</p>

<p>We don’t use the 2400 scale but I can give you our mid 50% range for the 1600 scale and that’s a 1380-1430 for out-of-state students (1270-1420 overall).</p>

<p>Obtaining leadership positions is great. Keep that up as it helps distinguish your passions and your dedication.</p>

<p>You can consider coming to campus this summer for an interview ([William</a> & Mary - Summer Interviews](<a href=“http://www.wm.edu/admission/interview]William”>http://www.wm.edu/admission/interview)). While PA isn’t in our backyard, it’s not terribly far away and interviews are a great way to let the Committee know more about you and your personality and it’s a great way for you to get to sit down, one-on-one, with a current W&M student and get your questions answered.</p>

<p>All this being said, we remind any applicant that W&M is a selective school. We admit only about 1/3 of those students who apply. For more on any applicant’s chances, check out our Admit It! Blog ([W&M</a> Blogs Chance Me](<a href=“http://blogs.wm.edu/2010/12/14/chance-me/]W&M”>http://blogs.wm.edu/2010/12/14/chance-me/))</p>

<p>Thank you W&M admissions,
Is there anyway I can make my application shine more? I know my GPA is really low for a W&M applicant. I will definitely visit your campus during this summer, I will probably fly down since it’s a 5 hour drive and I also think doing an on campus interview will show my affinity for the College of William and Mary. Also does applying Early decision gives me a greater chance for acceptance?</p>

<p>Thanks,</p>

<p>William Lin</p>

<p>Rememer williamlin, W&M does not have an average GPA because while at some schools a 3.5 GPA may be low for a W&M applicant, it may be perfectly competitive at other schools. It depends on the school’s grading scale, weighting policy, etc. Given that your class rank is near the top 10% of your class, the 3.5 GPA may not be as low as you think (again depending on other factors of your school context).</p>

<p>Certainly doing an interview can add a more personal dimension to your application which is great. And if W&M is your true first choice, applying early decision can in no way hurt you and can benefit you. Our admit rates are higher during early decision and the competition is less steep (~1100 applicants compared to 13,000 overall). It’s easier to stand out in a pool of 1100 as opposed to a pool of 13,000.</p>

<p>Hope that helps</p>

<p>What are the pros/cons of the Brown Hall dorm?</p>

<p>hillbyrd, depending on who you ask likely some students would count Brown’s location as either or (pro or con). It’s actually across the street from the head of campus so located very close to the Bookstore, Cheese Shop, Baskin Robbins and Berry Body frozen yogurt (pros). However, it is a bit of walk to new campus because of its location (con).</p>

<p>It’s a smaller residence hall likely making it easier to get to know your fellow residents and the lounges are huge (some of the largest on campus). </p>

<p>No doubt current students will have great responses to this question</p>

<p>I know that brown has a lot of private and suite baths. Is there a way to indicate that one would prefer having one of those on the housing sheet?</p>

<p>You can contact Residence Life and ask if that question is included but we doubt it is. Not surprisingly, most applicants would select suite bathrooms (there are no private bathrooms in residence halls) just like most would opt for air conditioning if given the choice which would lead to Residence Life not meet the requests of at least half of the incoming students.</p>

<p>While suite bathrooms like sound preferable now, hall bathrooms are pretty sweet (if you’ll pardon the pun). 1) They’re cleaned for you whereas you’re responsible for cleaning suite bathrooms and 2) They can be the impetus for social interaction because you’ll leave your room to go to the restroom, stop in your friend’s room on the way, and realize a while later you’ve yet to get to the restroom.</p>

<p>With air conditioning, suite vs hall bathrooms and actual building it’s luck of the draw</p>

<p>Hey W&M Admission,</p>

<p>I am a junior at top 60 public high school in Maryland. I am definitely planning to apply to William and Mary to pursue a Political Science/Econ/History major, and I hope to move on to a Ph.D Program afterwards. Could you please give me a few statistics on graduates who seek PH.D’s </p>

<p>I am very active with music/leadership/culture in my community, received a 36 on my ACT (first and only sitting), and am going to end up with a GPA of 3.71, WGPA of 4.36 (upward trend, with a 4.9 junior year in 3 APs). While my school does not formally rank students, colleges receive stats stating that 15% of the class is above 4.51 WGPA. Sadly, the WGPA system at my school weights both Honors and AP courses as a 5. Do you deal with these vague WGPA systems often? </p>

<p>Finally, I am wondering about the impact of a C in 2 semesters of Spanish 4A. These are the only 2 C’s on my transcript, mixed in a sophomore year beside 6 A’s.
I am hoping that you look beyond my weakness in language in your holistic process.</p>

<p>I’d love to discuss the Government program at W&M more some other time.
Thanks so much</p>

<p>Starky727, glad you’re interested in W&M.</p>

<p>Not sure we have great stats on students who pursue PhDs overall although likely individual departments know more about their department’s graduates. We do know that about 1/3 of our students go directly to graduate school after finishing their BA/BS at W&M and about 60% pursue graduate work within five years. Our admission rates to graduate programs are very high.</p>

<p>We receive a lot of applications from MD and are very familiar with their GPA weighting system. Most high schools, even if they don’t provide class rank, do provide grade distribution charts or a high GPA to give us some context for the individual applicant’s GPA. Being outside of the top 10% of your class is not a death sentence when it comes to your application but we would encourage you to continue taking challenging courses and continue your upward grade trend to make yourself the most competitive applicant you can be.</p>

<p>2 semester Cs/a full-year C also is not a death sentence but if it’s an abnormality, and it sounds like it might be, we encourage you to explain it or have your counselor explain it in his/her letter. If there’s context or extenuating circumstances that can be helpful as we review your transcript.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

<p>My daughter was so delighted to receive her acceptance letter as a Monroe Scholar. She has so many varied activities that she would like to continue. One activity that has been a big part of her life is showing her horse. She does 3 day eventing. I know that William and Mary has a Hunter jumper team that boards just down the street. When we came to the campus several times this summer, we planned to visit the barn. We were unable to connect with them in spite of repeated phone calls on our part. They just never called us back. We decided to just stop by on our last trip and there was not a soul on site in the middle of the day. It made me uncomfortable about leaving our animal there. We located a barn not far from campus but would require driving.I know that she is unable to have a car on campus for the first year. She is serious about her riding and I, knowing how much William and Mary has to offer, do not want this to be a factor that will negatively influence her decision to attend.</p>

<p>ponymom, surprised you’ve had such a disappointing experience with the barn our club equestrian team uses as most students seem to think highly of that particular barn.</p>

<p>There are excpetions made to allow freshmen and sophomores to have cars on campus when it’s job related. Not sure if being able to get to and from the barn would be an acceptable exemption but you can contact Parking Services (757-221-4764) and see if that is an exception they’ve made previously. </p>

<p>We also suggest contacting the Club Equestrian coach and/or officers for more information on use of the more common barn and their experience with it ([Contact</a> Us - W&M Equestrian Club](<a href=“http://wmpeople.wm.edu/site/page/equestrianclub/contactus]Contact”>http://wmpeople.wm.edu/site/page/equestrianclub/contactus))</p>

<p>hi, i’ve got a few questions:</p>

<p>-if any of you are IR majors, could you tell me a little more about your experiences, like what classes you’ve taken, what kinds of people you’ve met, and what kinds of internships you’re planning/have done?</p>

<p>-i’m planning on taking arabic in college, and centering my IR studies around the middle east- could anyone talk about the arabic program at W&M?</p>

<p>-how politically active would you say the student body is, in general? i’m liberal but i really want to be in an environment where i can discuss issues with people on both sides, since i’m sick of not having any conservatives around to talk to. how would you rate the amount of political involvement, in W&M as a whole and/or in the poly sci/IR program?</p>

<p>thanks for your feedback! :)</p>

<p>Definitely hope some IR and Arabic students respond and let you know about their academic experiences in those disciplines. You may also be interested in a Middle Easter Studies major ([William</a> & Mary - Middle Eastern Studies](<a href=“http://www.wm.edu/as/globalstudies/middleeastern/index.php]William”>http://www.wm.edu/as/globalstudies/middleeastern/index.php)) given your academic interests.</p>

<p>We think you’d find this campus very much informed and learned when it comes to discussing politics and current events. Additionally, while specific interest groups like the College Democrats and College Republicans are active on campus, we think you’ll find students are politically active in different ways. For example, last year a W&M senior ran for Williamsburg City Council and won thanks to the efforts of his peers. Several years ago students worked to allow W&M students to vote in Williamsburg and every year our students do the Road to Richmond (where they lobby our state officials for improvements to W&M and public higher ed) so our students are very cause focused and work hard to make those causes a success.</p>

<p>smwhtslghtlydzed</p>

<p>if you go back through the forum a over the last year (or few months), there are some threads about the IR program. They should not be hard to find.</p>

<p>W&M offers excellent study abroad opportunities (summer and semester), a semester in Washington program, a NATO internship just for a W&M student, one of the best Model UN teams in the world, and a highly competitive undergraduate think tank. You can find all of these via google, I unfortunately do not have the time to link to all of them right now.</p>

<p>you can see a list of the courses offered and the requirements in the course catalog. The requirements are fairly extensive for IR.</p>

<p>I was not in the internship scene as an undergrad (chose to do something else with my summers), but I am now in grad school and currently have an excellent government internship and I have another one (also gov) lined up for the summer.</p>

<p>All excellent points soccerguy.</p>

<p>Here are some of the threads soccerguy was referring to</p>

<p>1) <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-william-mary/1026975-international-relations.html?highlight=ir[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-william-mary/1026975-international-relations.html?highlight=ir&lt;/a&gt;
2) <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-william-mary/997201-international-relations.html?highlight=ir[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-william-mary/997201-international-relations.html?highlight=ir&lt;/a&gt;
3) <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-william-mary/943948-question-w-m-ir-majors.html?highlight=ir[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-william-mary/943948-question-w-m-ir-majors.html?highlight=ir&lt;/a&gt;
4) <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-william-mary/872758-placements-ir-majors.html?highlight=ir[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-william-mary/872758-placements-ir-majors.html?highlight=ir&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Can anyone tell me anything about the intramural sports opportunities at W&M? I’m a big soccer player and I love cross country!</p>

<p>We have both club sports ([William</a> & Mary - Sport Clubs](<a href=“http://www.wm.edu/campuslife/sportswellness/sportclubs/index.php]William”>http://www.wm.edu/campuslife/sportswellness/sportclubs/index.php)) which tend to be more formal and competitive in some cases and intrumurals ([William</a> & Mary - Intramural Sports](<a href=“http://www.wm.edu/campuslife/sportswellness/intramuralsports/index.php]William”>http://www.wm.edu/campuslife/sportswellness/intramuralsports/index.php)) both run by the Student Rec Center.</p>